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Thinly Veiled Intentions

The French are kind of doing the right thing but for the wrong reasons.They are, with their traditional indirection and moral confusion (which they incorrectly believe is subtlety), arguing that outlawing the veil is not directed at Muslims. This is silly, you should pardon the expression, on the face of it. Of course it is directed at Muslims.

Their unacceptable rationale is that this is about the “dignity of women.” A full-face veil, they hold, demeans the status of women. Well, that may be true–and I suspect often is true, but when France, or any state, gets into the dignity business bad consequences are sure to follow.

Were this their real motivation, they would logically have to look at how some Orthodox Jews make women cover their hair, wear wigs, long skirts and cover their arms–even on the hottest days. They might want to inquire about why women are segregated in Orthodox synagogues. Should these be state issues? How about those Christian fundamentalists who enforce Paul’s exhortation that women should remain silent in church? Does this offend the status and dignity of women? Maybe the French also ought to ban Roman Catholic priests from having to wear cassocks in public. After all, making a man wear what is effectively a dress in public could be seen by some as demeaning. How about the refusal of Catholics to ordain women as priests or Orthodox Jews to ordain women as rabbis? Do these acts affect the dignity of women? Well, maybe, but is any of this a compelling issue of national interest?

There is, however, a coherent and important reason to ban not simply the Muslim veil but, in this age of terror and insecurity, any face covering. For purposes of identification and security any veil, mask, balaclava should be forbidden. The ban on face covering should apply equally to men–and when we see rioters and protestors of various faiths and political persuasions with their faces covered, that should be enough to arrest them. If someone walks into a liquor store or bank with either a ski mask or veil, unless it’s Halloween, there is a legitimate security issue. I have every confidence that if I walked into my San Fernando Valley California bank branch on a warm summer’s day with a ski mask, I’d raise concern–possibly to the level of being detained.

France, you should drop the dignity excuse and tell the truth: This is legitimately about security.